Petals
by curioussciencetistkae
Summary: Ruby remembers Summer Rose


**Present **

Ruby kneels by the stone slab, pressing her hands by the inscription 'Summer Rose, Thus Kindly I Scatter'. Her red hood is over her face, tears are coming out of her silver eyes. No one else is around; it is only her and the stone slab.

The wind blows gently against Ruby. She wipes away some of her tears with her arm before leaning back to look up at the night sky. The stars are out, shining down on Ruby.

"Why'd you go?" Ruby asks the night sky "You know I miss you a lot."

She looks back down at the stone slab, hoping for some sort of response. Nothing but the wind answers her.

"I got into Beacon two years early. I'm a huntress in training now. So is Yang. She is also on my team, though she is not my partner. I'm also the leader of the team, isn't that amazing?" Ruby tells the stone slab.

Once again, only the wind is there to answer her question. Ruby holds the tail of her cloak close to her. She takes a quick peek behind her, making sure that she is still alone. She is. Ruby places her hands back on the stone slab, and starts to cry again.

"Why did you leave me?" She asks. "You know that I needed you, that I looked up to you a lot. I know you didn't mean to leave me like this, but, I still wish that you never left me."

* * *

**Past**

Summer is asleep on her couch, a book covering her face. Her head rest in the hood of her white cloak. Ruby stands near her, watching her sleeping grandmother. She pokes Summer's on the side, seeing if she is truly asleep. Summer moans, and flips over so her back is to her granddaughter. Ruby smiles at the fact her grandmother is fast asleep. The six year old starts to walk towards the kitchen.

Ruby walks up to the counter. On the counter above her, is a plate of cookies. Her grandmother had told Ruby wait to eat them till after dinner. Ruby knows she should wait, but they smell and look so delicious, that she can't help herself. If she can just have at least one, that will make her happy. Her grandmother also won't notice one missing cookie.

Pulling out the draws to use as steps, Ruby starts to climb up to the counter. When the cookies are in arm's reach, Ruby takes one of the chocolate chip cookies. She grins as starts to nibble on it. That is when she is suddenly lifted up in the air by her red hood. Whoever holds Ruby spins her around. It is her grandmother. Her steel blue eyes are narrowed as she stares at Ruby.

"Sneaky little huntress." Summer says with a smile.

With the cookie still in her mouth, Ruby grins.

"Didn't I tell you not to eat any of those till after dinner?" Summer asks as she puts Ruby back down on the ground.

"I know." Ruby tells her Grandmother after finishing her cookie "But they looked so good! I just wanted one!"

"You are a cookie monster, you know that?"

"They taste good! I love cookies!"

"I know that. Now, what do you want for dinner?"

"Hm…" Ruby, tapping her foot on the ground, starts to think "Oh! Can you make a grilled cheese for me?"

"Sure. I'll start to make one for you. You go sit and watch some TV, okay?" Summer tells Ruby; she processes to push the plate of cookies farther back on the counter "And no cookies till after dinner, got it?"

Ruby nods. Summer kisses her granddaughter on the top of the head. Ruby walks back into the living room. She turns on the TV then sits down on the couch. She flips through the channels, till she finds a show to watch. Ruby sits crossed legged on the couch, her red cloak is wrapped around her. She loves when her grandmother makes her food. Ruby always tells her grandmother that her cooking is the best in the world. This always makes her grandmother smile.

Summer walks into the living room, with a plate in her hands. She hands it to Ruby. After Ruby places the plate on her lap, she starts to eat the grilled cheese her grandmother made for her. Summer sits down next to Ruby.

"Does it taste good?" Summer asks her granddaughter.

"It always does! You always make the best food ever!" Ruby grins.

Summer smiles at her granddaughter's comment. She starts to pat down her short blonde hair, which is messy from when she slept. Ruby continues eat her grilled cheese. It is a bit on the darker side, and very cheesy. It is just how she likes it. After she is done, Ruby curls up next to her grandmother, and watches TV with her. After a few shows, Ruby starts to become tired.

"Want to go upstairs? I'll tell you a story." Summer says.

"Yes please." Ruby answers.

Summer picks up her tired granddaughter and carries her up the stairs. She brings her into the bedroom, and sets Ruby down on the bed. Ruby sits with her legs out in front of her. She pulls the covers up over her lap as Summer sits down next to her.

"So, what story would you like me to tell you tonight?" Summer asks.

"Can you tell me about another one of your stories about your missions you go on?" Ruby inquires.

"Really? How many of those have you heard?"

"A lot! But you go on a lot! _Please!_ I love hearing about you kicking some Grimm butt! You are one of the best huntress out there!"

"Okay, okay. I'll tell you about one of the more recent missions I went on."

"Yeah!"

"Okay. So, a few weeks ago, I went out with one of the kids from Beacon. I always love it when I get a student to come and follow me around to see what a hunter and huntress do up close. So, this young boy, who could be no more than eighteen, followed me around." Summer starts "We were walking around, and we were talking a bit. He is one talkative kid.

"Anyway, as we were walking, a pack of Beowolves came out from the bushes. There were a decent amount of them. I told the boy to stay close to me, and to be careful. The two of us started to go after the Grimm."

"I bet _you_ had no trouble at all!" Ruby exclaims.

"Hey, I'm not as young as I use to be, so I was having a little bit of difficulty, but I was still able to handle it quite well." Summer informs Ruby.

"So, what did the boy do? Did he help? Did he get hurt? Did he-"

"Ruby! Listen. I wonder who asks more questions, you or that boy."

Ruby closes her mouth. She moves in closer to Summer, put her elbows on the bed so she can rest her head on her hands, and looks up with wide eyes at her grandmother, who picks up where she left off.

"As I was finishing off one of the Beowolves, I looked back to see how the boy was doing. I saw him running away, a small, one of the smallest Beowolves I have ever seen, right on his heels. I just looked dumbfounded at him as he ran off. After taking care of the rest of the Beowolves, I went after him. After looking around for a bit, I found him up in a tree, the small Beowolf at the bottom, growling.

"I got rid of it very quickly. After I got rid of it, the boy came back down, shaking. I asked him why he ran away from Beowolf that was no bigger than a badger. He told him that it was moving very fast, so he could not land a good hit on it. He also said that it started to bite at his heels, so he was trying to get away from it. I looked at his heels, and sure enough, there were bite marks."

"He ran away from a small Beowolf? What a baby." Ruby says.

"Ruby, that is not nice. What would _you_ do if you had something nipping at your heels and you could not get rid of it? Your last, and maybe only, choice would be to run away from it."

"I'm sorry…"

"It's okay Ruby. Just know that everyone handles things differently. Some people might run away, some might fight. It is just how some people are. If you ever meet someone who seems like he or she might run away a lot, help them out. Who knows? Maybe they are just a knight in shining armor in disguise. Okay?"

"Okay?" Ruby yawns.

"Tired my little huntress?" Summer asks.

Ruby just nods. Summer pulls up the covers up to Ruby's shoulder as her granddaughter lies back down. She kisses Ruby on the forehead.

"Good night my little huntress. Sweet dreams." She whispers to Ruby.

Ruby closes her eyes. Summer turns off the light in the room. She then plugs in a nightlight for Ruby before she leaves the room.

* * *

**Present**

It starts to snow, but Ruby stays where she is. She does not want to leave quite yet. Since going to Beacon, she has not had a lot of time to come and visit the grave. She wants to make up for lost time before she leaves. The wind starts up again, carrying the sound of distant howl. Ruby knows that her time is running out. She is going to have to leave soon.

* * *

**Past**

Summer carries Ruby on her shoulder. Her young granddaughter has one of her arms resting on her head, while in her other hand is a red ice cream pop. Ruby nibbles on it, watching to make sure that none of it melts and drips onto her grandmother's blonde hair.

"Does that taste good?" Summer asks.

"Yes, it does. Thank you for buying it for me." Ruby replies.

"That's good."

"How dose yours taste?"

"Cold." Summer tells Ruby, biting into the white ice pop on her hand.

Ruby grins at her grandmother's statement before she goes back to eating her own ice pop. Summer carries Ruby around on the stone path that is in the park they are at. There are many other people at the park. Some are sleeping in the shade, trying to escape the heat, some are eating ice creams, and others just walking about.

When Ruby is done eating her ice pop, she rests he chin on her grandmother's head. She sighs.

"Everything okay?" Summer asks.

"I guess so. I was just thinking." Ruby answers.

"About what?"

"About that story of the huntress getting killed by some Grimm."

"You shouldn't think about that Ruby. You are seven. There is no need for you to be thinking about that. Why are you anyway?"

"Because of you."

"Summer stops short. She bends down, letting Ruby get off of her back. She turns around and kneels down to face Ruby, who is looking sadly down at the ground. Summer the hand without the ice pop on Ruby's shoulder.

"Ruby, look at me." She says.

Ruby looks up.

"Listen to me Ruby. The risk of death comes with the job of being a huntress. I know that I told you that, and I am sure your mother and father have said the same thing too you, and your sister. Being a huntress means putting your life on the line for the sake of protecting others. You understand?"

"I do. But I don't want to lose you."

Summer can see some tears starting to form in Ruby's silver eyes. She wraps her arms around Ruby, hugging her.

"It's okay Ruby. I'm not going to go anywhere for a long time, okay?" Summer comforts Ruby.

"But what if you do?" Ruby mumbles in Summer's shoulder.

"If I do…"Summer thinks of what to say to her granddaughter "If I do, just know that I love you, and that I did it to protect you, your sister, and many more people, okay?"

"O-Okay. But when you do go out on your missions, c-can you be careful? I don't want you to end up like that other huntress."

"I can't make the promise that I won't end up like that huntress, but I will promise you that I will be more careful so that I can come home and see you again, Okay?"

Summer pulls Ruby away from her shoulder. Some tears have come down Ruby's face, which Summer wipes away. She ruffles up Ruby's hair.

"Come on now; let's go do something to take your mind off of that." Summer tells Ruby.

* * *

**Present**

The howls start to become louder. Ruby knows that she has to leave. She looks at the stone slab one last time. Tears are still coming down her face.

"I have to go now." She says to the slab "I'll come back soon. I don't know when, but I will be back. I promise."

Ruby stands up and walks away from the stone slab. She takes one more look back at the slab. The howls are closing in on Ruby now. She runs away.

* * *

**Past**

It is dark out. Ruby sits outside on the top step of her porch. She is looking up at the stars and the moon. While there are no tears coming down her face, her salt stained face shows that there were tears before. They have dried up now. No matter how hard she tries, Ruby cannot seem to give any more tears.

"Were you being careful?" Ruby asks no one "You promise me about a year ago that you would. Were you?"

Silence. Hours earlier, Ruby and her sister where given the news that their grandmother, Summer Rose, was killed by a pack of Beowolves. Ruby cried. She does not know how much she cried, she can barely remember what happen between her parents telling her the news, and now. It is all a blur. All she knows is that she is sitting alone on her porch.

"You promised me. I know that you were careful. You rarely broke your promises to me. I just…" Ruby sighs.

She stays staring at the sky. She wishes that her grandmother was here to comfort her. But she isn't. The person she looked up the most is now gone. After a few minutes of utter silence, Ruby sighs before speaking again.

"I'm going to be a huntress, just like you. So is Yang. I know that there is a chance that I might end up like you, but I am willing to risk it. I want to help people, just like you did. I want to be just like you." Ruby stands up "I'm going to be one of the best huntresses ever. Just you see. I promise….I promise."

* * *

**Present Day**

Ruby makes it back to Beacon. It is quite late out, so almost no one is out. The only people in the halls are her, and some restless students. She makes it back to her dorm room. The rest of her team is fast asleep in their beds. Ruby makes sure to be quiet, not wanting to wake any one up. She changes out of her clothes, and gets into her pajamas.

She lies in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Sleep does not come easy to her. It has been seven years since her grandmother was killed. Since that day, she has been determined to live up to the promise she made, to become one of the greatest huntresses out there.

Finally, sleep starts to overtake Ruby. Her eyelids start to grow heavy. Ruby tries to keep them open, but her eyelids win. Sleep over takes her, and brings a long a dream. She is around five years of age. Her grandmother is there, her white cloak covering most of her body. In her hand is a bundle of red fabric. Her grandmother hands the young Ruby the fabric. Ruby unravels the fabric. It is a red cloak, much too big for her. She looks up to her grandmother.

"You'll grow into it one day. Happy birthday day, my little huntress." Her grandmother says.

Ruby looks back down at the cloak. With the help of her grandmother, she puts it on. She does not fit into the cloak at all. Every time she walks, she trips over it. She looks back at her grandmother, who is smiling at her.

"Don't worry Ruby. Like I said, you will grow into one day. I do hope that you like it. I know that you wanted a cloak just like mine. That is a reason why I got you this one. So that, hopefully, you will never outgrow it, and can keep it for a long time. So, tell me my little huntress, do you like your birthday present?"

Ruby just nods. Her grandmother picks her up. Ruby kisses her grandmother on the cheek when she is lifted up.

"Thank you grandma! I love it!" Ruby exclaims.

"I am glad that you like it. Want me to tell you a story? I know that you like when you are told a story." Her grandmother says.

"Yes please! Can you tell me about one of your missions? Please?"

"That is all you ever ask when I offer a story to you. Do you really like them that much?"

"I do! I love them. You know that I want to be a huntress just like you when I grow up!"

"Well, I bet that you will be one of the best huntresses out that, and the same goes for your sister."

"We will be just like you!" Ruby lends closer to her grandmother so that she can whisper in her ear "But I am going to be better than Yang."

"You _both_ will be great huntresses. Now, story time."

The dream ends there.

* * *

**This was written in honor of getting 300 followers on tumblr. When i hit 400, ill do another special fic. **


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